Is Social Media Being Too Harsh on the Teens Who Spelled Out the N-Word?

Why compassion might be a better response.

Late last week, six girls at a high school in Arizona took their senior photo a step too far, and posed — smiling — in a lineup that spelled out the word ni**er. The senior class was apparently wearing black T-shirts with gold letters meant to say the phrase, "BEST*YOU'VE*EVER*SEEN*CLASS*OF*2016," for their yearbook. However, once that pic was complete, six students thought it would be cute to spell out another word, and, as most things do, the image made its way onto social media. Parents reported the offensive lineup to the local news station, ABC15, and soon afterward the photo, and the girls, were national news.

Officials at Desert Vista High School, where the incident took place, were quick to comment once they were made aware of the photo, and the school district's superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Baca, said, "It is unacceptable for any racial slur to be used regardless of intent. We need to understand that words matter." The school's principal, Dr. Christine Barela, wrote in a statement, "We want to make it crystal clear those actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated at Desert Vista. Those actions do not represent who we are as a campus."

In the same statement, Dr. Barela promised that the students would be disciplined, but said that it's against the school's policy to publicly reveal that punishment; numerous reports, however, say that the teens have been given a five-day suspension.

Understandably, many argue that's not enough. Over the weekend, news outlets and commenters on social media ridiculed the six young women, calling them everything from "racist" to "stupid," and a civil rights protest is scheduled for outside the school this afternoon. There's also a Change.org petition circulating, which now has almost 40,000 signatures, calling for the girls to be expelled and for the principal to resign for doling out too light of a sentence.

What these six young (and, it should be pointed out, white) women did is offensive and, frankly, stupid — and there's definitely an argument to be made for their expulsion — but it does call into question the lengths social media will go to for justice.

Call-out culture is helpful in times like these to let people in otherwise isolated communities know that their words or deeds are harmful to others. It has helped us in major civil rights cases, and has aided us in unearthing ugly and despicable truths about people, as it did in the McKinney Pool Party Incident. But when it comes to minors, call-out culture also breeds reason for concern.

When this story was first reported by ABC15, an un-blurred version of the girls were revealed. They have since edited the photo to blur out their faces, but the internet already knows what these six minors look like and they were therefore effortlessly identified — now the Internet also has their names. It's easy to argue that one of them probably posted the unaltered photo to social media first, or that they willingly posed for the vulgar pic, but as they're all teens, let's remember: young people do dumb things. And now, according to The Daily News, the teens are receiving threats.

To be clear, outrage for these young women's actions is completely warranted. The n-word has a sordid history. It's not a joke, and those who use this word should promptly be given a history lesson. But, we also have to weigh one's actions and intentions against the severity of a punishment.

We are quick to jump on these young women and point them out as racists — and perhaps they are. But this incident is not just an indictment of a group of teenagers — it's actually an indictment of their culture, upbringing, and surroundings. The fact that they felt free to take this photo in the open, smiling, and then post it on the internet is cause for concern. It shows a disregard for common morality and sense, and a complete disrespect for the history of the word.

Furthermore, this is a school where this incident took place. The principal, Dr. Barela, needs to come up with a better response to both the criticisms of the punishment and the actions of her students. She says that this type of language isn't tolerated at her school, but obviously it is if six of her pupils thought nothing of staging such a portrait. People think a five-day suspension is too light because they're genuinely perplexed at how six students could think that spelling out ni**er with their senior T-shirts was a good idea. It wasn't — and maybe if leadership had set a better tone, the offensive photo could have been avoided.

Our educators nationwide should actively consider lessons on race relations and the history of race in this country — because racism on campus is not isolated to Desert Vista.

It's hard to imagine or twist what these six teen girls were intending prior to posing for this picture as anything positive, sarcastic, or jovial, but it is easy to imagine that they're just ignorant. And when young people are involved, perhaps a more rehabilitative, rather than retributive, course is warranted. This isn't a defense of their actions — they should be punished to the fullest extent of their school's disciplinary code. But while threats of violence may silence racist speak, education is the only thing that can rectify racist minds.